* Police turn up the heat on immoral behavior in pre-Valentine’s day raids
* Students in Solo, Riau say ’No’ to Valentine’s Day
Police turn up the heat on immoral behavior in pre-Valentine’s day raids
Jakarta Globe - February 14, 2013
Couples across Indonesia had their pre-Valentine’s Day plans interrupted on
Wednesday as police and public order officers raided parks, hotel rooms and
cemeteries in a campaign against immoral activity.
Late-night lovers were sent scrambling for their motorbikes in Bogor, West
Java, after the local Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) raided eight parks,
according to reports on Okezone.com. The couples were charged with disturbing
public order and causing societal unrest before they were taken to the Bogor
social agency for education, Bogor Satpol PP chief Hendi Iskandar said.
The teens were released to their parents’ custody. "Some were sent back to
their parents,“Hendi told Sindonews.com.”The rest were taken to a
rehabilitation house." Officers also arrested several prostitutes in the
raids, he added.
In Bojonegoro, East Java, police raided every hotel room in the city,
arresting eight couples accused of adultery, according to Bharatanews.com. The
officers reportedly barged in on the couples as they were engaged in "amorous
encounters."
A 25-year-old prison warden was arrested and charged with committing adultery
with a 19-year-old woman in a rented house. A civil servant was also nabbed in
the raid when police caught the 37-year-old with a woman in a hotel room. He
allegedly told police the woman was his sister, but they didn’t believe him.
The couples were taken to the police station and ordered to write a statement
promising they wouldn’t do it again. Adultery is illegal under Article 284 of
the Criminal Code and is punishable by a maximum of nine months in jail.
In Kendiri, East Java, the military joined the police and Satpol PP on the
raids, scouring a Chinese cemetery, a sports center and the hillside for
amorous couples, according to reports on Inilah.com.
“There is also a new place for late-night trysts,” the Kendiri Satpol PP’s
Djati Utomo explained. "The Sumber Jiput [water resevior] in the Ngronggo
urban ward."
Students in Solo, Riau say ’No’ to Valentine’s Day
Jakarta Post - February 14, 2013
Kusumasari Ayuningtyas, Surakarta — Nearly 500 elementary school students in
Surakarta, Central Java, joined a march to the city’s Manahan Stadium on
Wednesday in protest against Muslim youths partaking in Valentine’s Day
celebrations, arguing that doing so was against Islamic teaching.
Some 30 teachers accompanied the students at the rally in the city, which is
also known as Solo. The students ranged from first to sixth graders of Al
Fattah Islamic elementary school.
They stopped at the southern gate of the stadium where some of the fifth and
sixth graders gave speeches while younger students colored papers bearing
messages saying “no” to Valentine’s Day, which is celebrated every Feb. 14.
"We took the students to join the rally in a bid to remind them not to fall
into Valentine’s Day moments," one of the teachers, Setiyatno, said on the
sidelines of the march.
He said that the Valentine’s Day tradition among youths was no longer just
about giving away chocolates but had gone further, despite the fact that they
were unmarried couples.
This, according to Setiyatno, could damage the morality of Muslim youths,
especially if they wanted to physically express their feelings toward each
other.
"What we see in reality is that youths increasingly have no limits when
celebrating Valentine’s Day," said Setiyatno who teaches Islam at the school.
The rally was the fourth held in Surakarta and had in the past been conducted
as a reminder for students not to practice something that brought more bad
things than good, Setiyatno went on.
"We deliberately give them an early warning so that they will not be plunged
into non-Islamic traditions in the future," he said.
Fifth grader Khodir, who delivered a speech during the event, said that
Valentine’s Day must not be celebrated by Muslims because according to Islamic
teaching, unmarried couples were not even allowed to touch each other.
In his speech, Khodir said that Valentine’s Day not a day of celebration for
Muslims.
Separately in Pekanbaru, Riau Islands, Mayor Ayat Cahyadi instructed all
schools in his jurisdiction to apply tight controls and to ban their students
from celebrating Valentine’s Day.
"The young generation must be protected so that its does not fall into
promiscuity and vice," Ayat said on Wednesday.
Valentine’s Day, according to Ayat, was in contrast to the culture of people
from the east. He said the eve of Valentine’s Day was always celebrated with
negative activities. “Don’t get influenced by a culture that is not ours,” he
said.
He also called on parents to control their childrens’ social relationships and
to teach them that love was sacred and holy. "Showing love does not
necessarily have to be done only on Feb. 14," he said.
Ayat also asked the city’s public order officers (Satpol PP) to cooperate with
local police to keep an eye on hotels in Pekanbaru on the eve of Valentine’s
Day.
The move received support from the chairman of the local Indonesian Ulema
Council (MUI), Ilyas Husti, who said that Islamic teaching forbade promiscuity
and out of wedlock relationships. “It’s haram,” he said.
He added that Islamic teaching did not forbid affection as long as it did not
violate sharia law. "Valentine’s Day celebrations have led to the channeling
of lust between unmarried couples," Ilyas said.
Promiscuity, he said, could lead to unwanted pregnancies out of wedlock. "The
impact will not just be on them but also on the whole community," he said.